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| Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman (Image: Flickr User - U.S. Department of State) |
By Harry W.S. Lee
A recent State Department speech has revealed Washington’s impatience over South Korea-Japan relations.
The gory photo of the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, covering the wound on his neck was a shocking sight in South Korea, a country where terrorism has virtually been non-existent – all the more so because Korea has been a key U.S. ally in the Asia-Pacific for decades. Interestingly, the knife attack came just days after a recent flaring of anti-U.S. sentiment across the South Korean media at disparaging comments made about the historical disputes between Japan and South Korea by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy R. Sherman.
There is no apparent evidence to suggest the nascent tension with the U.S. is linked to the attack, which was carried out by a pro-North Korean extremist, Kim Ki-jong. But coming in the midst of brewing antagonism towards the U.S., the unfortunate incident has placed the South Korean government in an awkward spot.
During the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Sherman appeared to have accused the Chinese and South Korean governments of limiting “future possibilities for cooperation” in Northeast Asia by “vilifying a former enemy” [Japan] for “cheap applause,” citing these examples: “[t]he Koreans and especially the Chinese are sensitive to any change in Japanese defense policy. The Koreans and Chinese have quarreled with Tokyo over so-called comfort women from World War II.”
The comments have snapped a nerve ending in South Korea, with the local media throughout the political spectrum going into overdrive on what they see as U.S. siding with Japan on the historical dispute.
Read the full story at The Diplomat